Is it possibly to knit ANYTHING that can be knit on circulars on dpns instead, so long as your dpns are long enough? Does anybody know? I should be able to answer this question myself, but my brain hurts. Seems like the answer should be yes, but I wanted to come ask some experts.

The old-time Fair Isle knitters (maybe the new-time ones, too) used very long 'pins'--double pointed needles. One was jammed into a special padded belt attachment and the another was used to knit off of it.

But yes, as long as you can hold all your stitches, you could use dpns for anything circular.

huge things (tent sized stuff!) can be knit on a set of 5 or more circ's, using each circ as a DPN! (after all its is a dpn, its just soft in the center!)

if you are knitting a sweater for a guy, (a big guy) you can get a really long circ, ($$$$) or you can use 2 or 3 Circ's as DPN's. Very often its cheaper, and certain its easier to find 2 30 inch long circs than to find 1 60 inch long circ.

unlike normal DPN's that can'r really be uses in set of 3, circs can (you slide the stitch onto cable portion, and it will work fine!)

and since circs of all lengths are easier to find, you can sub a few circ for long DPN's! (or if your really like the rigidity of dpn's there is no reason to stop at 4 or 5, you can knit with 8 or 10! (2 sets) or any number in between!

or if your really like the rigidity of dpn's there is no reason to stop at 4 or 5, you can knit with 8 or 10! (2 sets) or any number in between!

this was something i was wondering about recently, whether you could have a piece of work with like 20 dpn's hanging off it... probably be a bit unruly, but wouldn't people think you were some kind of legend... (tee hee, i could knit a sock with like 2 stitches on each dpn and use 30 of the suckers and look like a freak!! )

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Dee

If a little dreaming is dangerous, then the cure is not to dream less, but to dream more... to dream all the time! - Proust

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Yes, it would be pretty cool to see somebody knitting with eight or ten dpns.
Three or four circs also looks quite impressive
and will get you plenty of funny looks on the subway.

I slept through high school geometery, but the way it works is this:
when you use dpns, you are actually knitting with segments of a circle. The more segments, the closer you get to an actual, angle-free circle.
So knitting with circs is tantamount to knitting with an infinite number of dpns.